Should another Spurs star be catching the England eye with Kane?
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Another game, another goal for Harry Kane and another chance for his growing number of fans to call for his England inclusion, but amid all the furore about Spurs’ born and bred new star, is another shining light at White Hart Lane being cruelly over looked?
Before Kane became the apple of the Lilywhites’ eye, another north London native broke into Mauricio Pochettino’s first team and stayed there.
As long ago as September, Ryan Mason was handed his first Premier League start despite being at the club since 2007. He was paired in central midfield alongside Etienne Capoue in the cauldron of a north London derby at the Emirates and impressed during a polished performance.
Since then the 23-year-old has only missed three top-flight games for the club that loaned him out five times before trusting him enough to pick him themselves.
In that time, Enfield-born Mason has carved out an all-action niche for himself in Pochettino’s plans. Tougher in the tackle and full of more running than Nabil Bentaleb, Mason is the Tasmanian Devil to the cultured Marvin the Martian style provided by the Algerian.
That is not to do Mason a disservice, as his high-energy style is key to his manager’s ideal gameplan and, looking through the central midfield options at White Hart Lane, is the only man who can provide that style consistently.
According to stats-gurus WhoScored, Mason is making the fourth-most average tackles per game for central midfielders in the top flight this season and is supplementing that with 1.2 interceptions.
As no Englishman is showing as much bite in the middle of the park, is it really too soon to wonder if the former Swindon Town loanee demands a place in Roy Hodgson’s squad along with Kane?
The national side holds a place for ferocious midfielders as part of the diamond formation currently employed, with Fabien Delph and Jordan Henderson’s inclusions both proving as much.
With Mason arguably in better form than the former, is it time he started to share some of the limelight currently engulfing his teammate?
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